Scattered Ashes
by Aeinn
Summary: The unlikeliest of heroes, an archer and a swordswoman, have been thrust into a world filled with magic not of their own. Their job? To eradicate evil... serving as 'bodyguards' of Louise the Zero. With Kai and Vella in tow, there is much to learn of this new fantasy world; maybe Louise could learn a thing too? Maybe.


**Chapter One**

**"Unfortunately..."**

* * *

"Evie, start again. This time," Gwynn's hand hesitantly gestured in the air before finishing by circling it to begin. "try to explain it more slowly. And wipe your tears."

Evie, the short yet bright innocent girl who dabbled in the magical arts, pulled her arms into her chest and tried to hide her body from existence from the occupants in the room. She, along with her group of Mercenaries, were all seated in Aodhan's large (small) office; it wasn't helping that the room was built to house one or two members at a time - not eight people.

Lann, an athletic man just a little older than some (Karok, Kai, Vella happen to be older than he is) of his peers, was once a village boy. Late in his teenage years, the Fomorian army had attacked and raided his village. Little to no survivors, he had taken an oath to stop the Fomorians and save as many lives as he can in the process. A renown swordsman and a spear man, Lann is a high ranking Mercenary within the Royal Army along with his friends. Wearing the fabled Dark Crest armor set, he stands at around five feet-eleven in the rare exquisite iron ore and the armor pieces and fragments of various metals forged of other armors. Bright silver plats red cloth hanging from the back of his waist down to his calves, crimson artificial hairs hanging from his helmet and the signature look of a Royal Knight, Lann became the impromptu leader of his party. Barely.

No one ever took him seriously out of a quest. At least Karok always tried to cheer him up with ale. A barrel of it. Maybe it was because he had a baby face? He wasn't that young...just had a face of a teenager.

Fiona, Lann's opposite in engaging the enemy and long time friendly rival, was another character of her own. What bits and pieces people would learn from the rumors flying around, she'd been like Lann; though overseas and always held the shield and sword more times than she'd bat an eyelash. Quiet, preserved, and having hidden sense of humor only shown to her closest of allies, the woman made the group's armor and protects them. She wore the Holy Wing Half Plate armor set; a mixture of leather and fine steel crafted from her own hands. Brown and black leather half-cuirass covering her upper waist to her lower stomach and ending as a short skirt with a layered skimming, short cape that went around her neck and just below her shoulders blade, metal iron plates that covered her armor and leg, Fiona's armor could withstand just enough pressure and had the right amount of mobility had given her the fighting edge among the ranks Mercenary.

A huge man grumbled to himself in a low voice as he watched his two teammates battle it out for stupidest childish Mercenary of the year. The giant chuckled a little as Lann seemed to stop talking to Fiona just enough for them to listen to Evie. But they still kept at it while the young magician cried her eyes out in front of their superior. Idiots. He shook his head in exasperation.

Karok, a dark skinned giant hailing from the mountainous range of the outskirts of the Fomorian grounds, was a man of a few words. Kind, heart of gold and easily could be a friend to anyone, Karok had many things going for him as a child of mountain. The race had kept to themselves for many years, only letting strangers in when trading would be needed. Fish, rice and other agricultural substances would be traded for the many ores, crystals and hard materials. But that all changed when the Fomorian Dragons attacked. Being one of a handful of Giants left alive, Karok had became a Mercenary to achieve what Lann wanted to do. Maybe do a little more and find a place of his own.

Seven feet tall and at 400 pounds, the giant wore the only armor he could ever wear; the Cuallemeach armor set. Leather and almost unrecognizable metal, the famed armor set had served him for many years off and off the heat of battle. Jet black pieces of armor, dark brown leather suit and an open 'v' collar that showed his stone hard chest, he could easily fold a person in half if need be. He made the muscle of the group, from smashing Gnolls into the ground or grappling a dragon mid flight and slamming it into the cold hard stone of the ruins a floating castle.

But even for his big appearance, not once had he had been violent towards others; except for the occasional ass hat, but his presence alone made most of them stop whatever idiotic gesture and walk away before they'd get an armored gauntlet to the face. Like how Lann and Fiona was now.

Lann, leaning against the wall besides Fiona, shuffled from his cramped space from the hard wood, whispered a 'sorry' to his companion when he brushed his armored elbow into her ribs. She responded with a hard jab into his and found it satisfying to see the Swordsman doubling in pain as he gasped for air. Though she didn't show any emotions due to the current situation, the brown haired Sentinel internally smirked at their little antics.

Evie, just done wiping the wet spots around her eyes craned her head behind her to see what was happening, but a large dark skinned figure slapped the back of Lann's head, and placed a hand on Fiona's shoulder to shush them up. His eyes stared at Evie's before he nodded to continue.

Her eyes spoke it all to Karok, and she only nodded back before huffing in a stuttered breath before looking into the eyes of Gwynn; then looked at the wooden floor in an instant. _Those_ eyes were the kind that showed she wasn't pleased. The kind she never wanted to deal with but somehow always seemed to get.

"Evie." The blonde woman said sternly. Her arms now locked across her chest as she glared at her subordinate. "What. Happened?"

"I-I-I..." The mage started, but her words fell deaf when she no longer talked loudly. Her eyes once again traveled to her feet, finding them unusually more interesting than her sister-like 'boss'. A 'ahem' broke Evie's musings as a helmeted soldier brought a fist to his covered mouth. Gwynn, the second to see her friend break the silence, brought her hands to her side as she looked over to Marrec.

"Perhaps I should talk, Gwynn." He started.

Oddly enough, even if Evie and Gwynn were very close, almost to the point where the blonde (wouldn't) admit that Evie was like a little sister to her, Marrec the ever mysterious Mercenary had better interactions with everyone; more so than Kirstie or Tieve. So when he interrupted Gwynn and saved Evie from a tongue lashing for not responding, the mage beamed brightly and forgetting that she was here for a reason other than getting saved by the Mercenary.

"I can handle the situa-"

"No." Aodhan, finally having enough, spoke up.

Gwynn flinched. "But sir-"

"I believe Marrec can handle it a bit better than you can." He finished defiantly.

She held her shoulders high and tense, but the defeat was clearly written on her face. "Sir." And with that, the blonde stepped back as Marrec took her place in the spotlight.

Hand on the small shoulder of Evie, he spoke softly like he would a small child. "Can you please tell me what happened, Evie?" His voice cool and controlled. Not loud and not to quiet; wanting to let the others overhear them. The girl tensed, looked over to her friends in the corner but a small pull brought her back to Marrec. "Don't worry about them, it's just us now."

A small nod, and she breathed in slowly. Gwynn frowned. She was never that good with words, nor with handling a friendship ever since Ellis had been killed. Maybe she'd try for some advice from Tieve or Ceara. Those two always made friends in a heartbeat, and they always had that heart warming smile that could even melt a tempered Gnoll's will.

"We were fighting-"

"Training! I mean-we were sparring with," Lann quickly cut in, seeming to have recovered from his injury. His face, stricken, and his eyes wide. Evie quickly followed his lead, as she knew what he wanted to guide to.

"R-right...well, we were sparring with Keaghan. The seven of us. Me, Fiona, Lann, Kai, Karok, Vella and the last and our opponent being Keaghan." Gwynn nodded and looked over to the seated figure of a large man in bright menacing black armor. He gurgled out a response no one could hear, but it did sound like a whimper and an agreement to Evie's answer. His jet black hair obstructing his face from the group, but it could be seen that drive blood was on his forehead down to his chin; just covering the left side of his face. His armored hand cradling his cheek.

The party sent out to stop a certain knight from turning evil and possibly ending the world by breaking the cycle came back with said certain knight, but a look around the room suggest two were instead missing. Keaghan had begun battle with said group, and an...incident occurred. Now it was up to Evie to explain what happened.

"Go on, Evie." Marrec said. The mage nodded.

"Well, during when we were fighting-"

"Sparring."

"_Sparring_," she added quickly, "something happened. It wasn't like any magic I've seen. The portal just opened up and swallowed the both of them! It wasn't of this world, and I'm sure Brynn with agree with me-"

"Portal?" Marrec blinked a few times behind his closed visor. "What portal?" Wait, since when did Marrec close his visor? For any reason at all?

"Well when we were sparring I noticed this portal open and suck up Vella and Kai and their pets Red and Snowie and then Keaghan tripped trying to avoid the portal and face planted really really really really hard and became unconscious-"

"Evie, slow down. Please. But we did hear you though, just," Marrec started off just like Gwynn did, this time gesturing his hand up and down, though not knowing what he was trying to actually say. "just slow down. Start off where I cut you off."

Momentarily puffing from the sudden interruption, the girl deflated before nodding. Karok tapped his large foot before a stern looking Aodhan stopped the giant's insanely loud noises he was making.

At least Karok had the decency to look sheepish, unlike Fiona or Lann that caused much more of a ruckus a few minutes prior.

"A green portal opened up and swallowed both Vella and Kai, along with their Chieftain Jr's. I didn't recognize the magic, nor the way it seemed to conjure out of nowhere. I told Brynn before we got here thinking I could get some answers. Even he doesn't know, and he's possibly the strongest and wisest mage in all of the land. Well, except for, you know...old and crazy Uncle Reilly. Anyway," Evie started to speed up this time, knowing that Aodhan followed easily. "he doesn't know himself, but he's made it a priority to visit the desolated grounds where we sparred."

Fiona chose this time to stop being quiet, a very rare thing. "And you know how Brynn can't leave his workshop. Reilly has took down the barrier."

Aodhan narrowed his eyes, his old age seeping into the wrinkles of his eyes as he held his folded hands to his mouth. Reilly, as aloof as he is, would never bring down the restricting barriers of Brynn's workshop; even if said workshop was burning down. The magical incantations were designed to kill a man if he so much as stepped outside. So this was more serious than originally thought. "Ceara," he turned to the woman with red hair sitting on a pile of old records and books. He stared. Ceara finally got the idea and quickly jumped to her feet while patting the pile of paperwork. "As much as we need Reilly here, bring a message to him to go with Brynn if possible, and if anything comes up, let Kirstie know that her hunting skills on monsters would be needed. I believe this is something entirely different."

Marrec abruptly turned his head to his long time friend, Ceara looking back at him. She nodded, and left without a word. "Perhaps we should prepare a remedy for Sir Keaghan before we do so, sir?"

The brooding knight in armor looked up, a scowl working up his face as he winced in pain. "A remedy would be fine, though I'm not sure a concoction can bring back memory loss."

When Keaghan had fallen and hit his head, he had forgotten what he was doing there, and why. So it was easier for Evie's party to convince him that he just fell while having a friendly duel. Easily enough, no one got seriously injured and the dark heart with evil Fomorian powers in it never got to work on his body, as his mind had suddenly stopped and lost the drive to protect Tieve at all costs. A very convenient accident, really.

Keaghan resigned and looked over to Aodhan. "Anything to remedy the pain would be good."

The Mercenary leader nodded and gestured for Gwynn to bring the order to either Brynn or Reilly. She nodded hastily and left the room quickly, the door silently closed behind her. Then, he went back to looking at Evie.

Marrec, catching on, once again gestured her to continue. She shook her head slowly. "That's all that had really happened."

"What about when you started to ball and cry?" Lann spoke up. Fiona kicked him nonchalantly with her steeled heel, finding him once again kneeling over in pain.

Aodhan, finally finding the current Mercenary party unbearable, told them to leave at once and continue working the post and hours. Once the door had closed and he was alone, Marrec opened the door slightly and popped his head in.

"Sir, are we still going to organize the Christmas inner armor sale and event?"

* * *

Second time's the charm, right?

Second time at the summoning field(today), standing alone in the middle of the summoning circle was a tiny girl with pink hair who had sunken and dark circled eyes that held a wand in her hand.

The first incantation had failed (once again), and this time for sure she could get kicked out of the most prestigious school in all of Tristain; Tristain Academy of Magic. Her mother had wanted to her youngest daughter to learn from the very best, excel at classes and have the most highest education possible to make the Vallière family proud. Louise, her name was, wanted to prove to the world that she had what it takes to uphold that name, to show to her peers that constantly made fun of her for her lack of magical prowess and her current situation with the inability to even conjure up the most basics of converting willpower into energy. To prove to her sisters that even the Zero; the worst mage of the Noble world, can in fact do better than anyone could have ever imagined.

No, wait. Not both of sisters, not Cattleya. She, the dearly beloved sister of Louise, too nice and too forgiving and very loving. Louise knew this, she had nothing to prove to her older sister. Cattleya wouldn't want her little sibling to change either, but it hurt so much to have so many things on your shoulders at once and have all that pressure. If she didn't do this, it would be another failure, but unlike any other she had done so far. It would mean having to leave the school, go back to the estate and learn to become the best housewife she can be; and that meant her dreams would be in the dirt along with her dreams.

She would succeed just this once, just do this one summoning and just maybe, just maybe, summon something-even if it has to be an ant-that will show that she was capable of completing the familiar summoning.

Failing this would mean failing her family. Failing this would mean failing life. Failing this would mean failing Cattleya.

So that was why Louise stood alone in the field. She had failed the the spring summoning, yes, but that didn't mean she didn't have determination.

Gritting her teeth and regaining the color to her face, she steadily held her wand down to the circle and nearly chanted before falling silent. Dammit, if she fails...no, she wasn't going to fail. The Pinkette throw the damned wand with a fierce backhand and saw it disappear from her peripheral vision. And so, she began by defiantly looking at the colored markings on the ground. Her hands placed together and just touching her forehead, she prayed to some sort of higher deity, maybe Brimir, for a successful spell.

"I, Louise de La Vallière..." Closing her eyes tightly and kneeling on the floor, she began. "I...Louise de La Vallière...pray to Brimir and his powers to give me something-anything-that will prove my worth in this world. Something sacred, powerful, beautiful and unique." Her face started to break, as her emotions started to seep through. "Please, something that will guide me through life, and possibly become my dream come true. I call upon the stars for that Familiar..."

Still chanting, the young woman didn't realize nor feel the immense power radiating from within the ground. As slowly as it started, no one but a Square Class mage wouldn't be able to detect such a thing.

A dot, the size of a marble, became bigger and bigger until it reached and became distorted into the color green. The oval shaped anomaly stretched, but in width, as it ripped apart into two suddenly and speeding across the courtyard at an unimaginable rate. The sudden shock wave soon reached Louise just as soon as she finished.

"..And heed my call, my familiar!" She opened her eyes to see a large wave of dirt and debris fly towards her. Her sudden reaction to duck helped, as it only tingled over her shoulders and back as it gently washed over her. Just as it suddenly happened, it abruptly disappeared as well. That left Louise and the two odd green portals alone in the field.

Opening up her eyes and ignoring the stinging pain of something in her eye, Louise was able to look up from her arms and see the two green ovals just floating a few inches off the ground.

And then, a dark armored hand punched through the left portal with a mighty shock.

* * *

Evie sulked and sat with Fiona at the local pub. Though she wasn't allowed to drink, nor did she even want to drink, she still couldn't find anything on the menu to be working on her stressed emotions. Fiona, while, was just sitting next to the mage and sipping on some sort of fruity alcoholic beverage that seemed a little too girly for her.

Then Evie perked up and turned to her friend. "Do you think I should have told them that Kai went Dark Knight?"

Hearing this, Fiona could only put down the cup down lightly and did a one-shoulder shrug. The small girl could only pout as she slammed her head against the table once before finding the wood oddly comfortable. The older woman still didn't look at the young one's antics, but just picked up her drink and started to sip again.

"I forgot!" This time, Fiona did take the time to turn to her peer. "Vella went Paladin too!"

* * *

Louise watched as an armored black hand reach out of a portal with a would-be devastating punch if it connected with anything, though why it would do so, she didn't know. So when she quickly untangled herself from her cloak and dusted herself off, she saw its head slowly emerge from the portal.

Blue, glowing eyes. A helmet that almost seemed to be part of its skin as it had the 'T' shaped open visor. No nose, no lips, no actual human skin. Teeth that seemed inhuman reached from ear to ear and plates among plates of chitinous armor that connected to the top like a tail. It ended just, well, she couldn't tell, as it was still on the other side of the portal. then, the legs of the same fashion and then the other arm. But this time, she noticed the jagged long blade attached to the elbows. It came out slowly and the portal closed instantly with a wink. The thing turned around to look at it, and it seemed to hunch over in anger as the portal had dissipated from reality.

The thing faced her, and the eyes glowed brightly.

Whatever this thing was, it wasn't human. It couldn't be.

The dark being then had black smoke circling it before it stayed in the air. All of her alarms in her said one thing and one thing only. Evil.

Pure Evil.

A crackling sound of broke her staring as the other portal literally shot out another figure. Thinking it was another of these abominations, Louise was pleasantly surprised to see that it looked just like the exact opposite. Where the chitinous pieces would be, blue flowing feathers replaced them. Two floating shields on each side of the shoulders and glowing feathers around it, circling the figure. But this one looked distinctively female. The curves were there. And the positive thing about it was the fact that it didn't have an open visor, but she doubt that there'd be teeth to show. It was too surreal to look evil. Like the story of the shining white knight that saved the princess from harm. Though, it looked angelic. This didn't just scream good. It sent a cool feeling down her spine just thinking of the aura. The word.

Light.

Pure Light.

The Pinkette didn't realize it, but she was actually making her way towards the two. She didn't know why, but she did. The black one noticed, and the right hand of it was engulfed in the same dark smoke. The smoke became a shape, and then it darkened. Then what replaced it was a demonic bow with sharp and pointy and black plates of whatever the thing was made of. The thing had a quiver on the whole time, fastened onto its back and she didn't notice. Did Louise mind? No, not really.

Scared, yes, but she wanted to know what she summoned. She just knew she summoned these two.

The white one seemed to notice the hostile gesture of the black one, and quickly dashed to it. It was too fast, she couldn't see the thing move. Louise automatically assumed that these two would fight, the white one defending her. It came to her surprise that the white one gently held the black one's wrist that held the bow, and the way the two seemed to be so close, it seemed they were nearly intimate. Like a wife would do to a husband when telling the man something important.

No words were spoken, or at least, nothing she could hear. She could only see the white knight's eyes turned to the black ones. The eyes turning up and down. The head gesturing to an angle, the unmistakable gestures a person would make when speaking to someone.

And with little movement from the black knight, it made the bow disappear and reappear on the back, holstered securely.

Realizing that now it was okay, Louise finally thought of her spell.

It didn't blow this time. It didn't blow up this time! No explosions, no destructive force or any of the smashing and the screaming of her peers of anger and no scolding mother and no reassuring Colbert. This, this was her first and only spell that succeeded. Her first success at anything. She finally did something she can finally be proud of! Her face slowly twisted from confusion, to sadness, to happiness in a few quick seconds. But before she could go any further, the white knight was suddenly walking towards her.

With the universal gesture of two hands in the air of 'I mean no harm', Louise hesitantly thought of stepping back, but decided against it. It reached her, the white knight being a lot taller than her, but only by two and a half heads. The thing stopped and on one knee, knelt down so it would be face to face with Louise. As soon as they both had eye contact, the white knight's armor became to disappear with a brilliant white light, but that's all she saw, as it had taken a hand and covered her eyes.

As soon as it became dark, she heard two sounds that sounded almost heavenly, like horns playing in a triumphal harmony. The hand slowly let go of her sight, and Louise slowly peeked through her eyes; all the while holding her head down. What knelt in the white knight's place was a woman.

A beautiful woman at that. She had red hair, and most of it were tired back into a bun while a few bangs adored her face, framing it quite nicely. She had some sort of hairband that looked oddly like a butterfly, and her wore a mix of metal armor with leather. Her shoulders bare, the rest of her arms in white exquisite armor that covered her arms. The two shoulder plates that seem to end just shy below her shoulder blades, were of different shapes; one was outward and smoothed easily at the long tip that went away from her face, the other cupped around her shoulder as the ends of it had a number of the crosses forged onto it. The breast plate covered just her breasts, as a soft, clothe covered the waist and the stomach to her hips and ended as a skirt; one side smaller than the other. It showed a bit of her thigh, but Louise was determined not to blush or think different of the woman with the way the armor seemed to be; as revealing as it was.

Gauntlets of the same metal, with the space between the arm and the hands had the same white cloth. Her lower thighs covered with the same cloth as it zig-zagged a pattern that went outwards, and from the knee down, white plated boots with the knee having one small spike. On her back, she could see two hilts of swords of some kind. The final verdict? Simply put it, beautiful. Nearly a sex bomb; if the smiling pretty face and the way the armor was to put it.

No wait. She is a sex bomb.

She spoke softly, and Louise wondered desperately why she couldn't understand a single word the woman was saying. It didn't sound anything like Tristainian, or Germanian, or Gallian. Nothing sounded like any of the words the woman spoke. With the universal cock of her head with her shoulder raised, the woman seemed to understand, and giggled, closing her eyes and bringing a hand to her mouth.

That giggle could cure cancer if the lord Brimir would be so kind to allow.

Louise cut herself from her musings and sighed, shaking her head before a cough had caught the two women's attention. Behind the two stood a figure of a man dressed in black clothing with an assortment of armored pieces; the legs had something different entirely, but matched perfectly. The Pinkette didn't get a good look before she noticed another figure, and this one made her blanch. Professor Colbert stood in front of the dark figure, and they seemed to be having an intense stare off; with the older man failing it seemed.

Though, that's what she thought anyway. The black figure had his hood drawn up.

XxXxX

Vella grabbed onto the arm of her friend and ally, a death grip for any other person, but a simple hold for The Archer. The dark red-haired woman tugged when said archer tried to pull away glaring at the small pink haired girl.

"Calm down." He stopped, but didn't break his glare. "Kai." That seemed to break the staring, but it didn't stop the ever so permanent scowl written even on his Dark Knight's face. "Just wait a minute, dammit Kai! I'll handle this. You're only going to give that child nightmares, you're not exactly a friendly person." She once again pulled on his limb, but the fact that he never talked in his Transformation didn't help that she wouldn't be getting an answer out of him. She looked him up and down, before tilting her head before speaking up again. "Okay?" Still, no answer, but he did comply by holstering his bow.

And with that, Vella let go of his wrist as soon as she felt him relaxed. Well, as relaxed as he can be. The man could be as tense as a tuned string on one of Clodagh's many instruments.

As she went off to the little girl, Kai took the opportunity to change back into his human hooded form, not caring that Vella had chosen this moment to cover said girl's eyes. Though, he could understand why she would, it just wasn't any of his problem to even care about what others think. To Vella, it seemed it was more for the girl's sake than Vella's own.

A pulsing pain, his black armor literally dissolving from his own skin like if it was dried mud underneath the sole of a boot crackling away. The black live-like clouds falling heavy and hitting his limbs before making its way to the floor to disappear, the thumping emotional and physical hurt of one's soul manifesting back into its original state. Pain, pain is all he could feel as his body started to reject the dark energy of the Dark Knight and started to fight it to make it leave.

And just like the first time back in Colhen, he found himself rising up from a kneeling position, his torso naked while his arms and legs had broken fragment pieces of his armor set he wore during his Transformation. Kai turned to his half naked and smirking ally, no doubt thinking about his rippled muscled body and the teasing she'd pull off, with what followed pretty much her pouting and wondering how she failed to. Vella seemed better off though, seeming as how she had inner armor-which was pretty much a bikini if anyone would answer-that covered the important bits. Her lower body armor thought seemed to hold up well and covered the swordswoman's waist and down.

Both lowered their hands to their hip, and from their palms' grew a bright light before a single black and orange striped feather now rested in each grasp. Kai instantly snapped the thing like a twig. Vella simply laid it on her chest. Both glowed a brilliant white before they both found themselves fully armored and fixed once again.

While Vella had gone to talking to the girl with the rare ability to actually act nice and softly have a conversation with said child, Kai had taken to account the sheer size of the courtyard, and the huge walls that no doubt covered the large tower in the middle. He could see lushes greenery and trees. Tress outside of Colhen and Rocheste. The thought of the possibility of the Fomorian plague not around here quickly died in his mind. There was just no way. They only had gone to a different location near said two cities, right?

_Even Colhen doesn't have this much vegetation._

A flash of white light and a crossgun in his hands, he pointed the jagged and sharp looking shooter to a balding old man that successfully sneaked upon him.

No one sneaks up on Kai.

He narrowed his eyes behind his hood, and cocked the weapon into the first stage, ready to blow this intruder into bits and pieces if he as much as even used that magical staff of his. Said intruder held both hands into the air as well as his staff. He had a balding head, young looking eyes with framing glasses but a grim straight line on his lips. The robed man gestured to hands into the air again as goodwill and soon found himself looking at Kai lower his crossgun, though still pointed in his general direction. So a mage then? What would a magi user be doing here?

Kai cocked his head to the staff and the book that was just noticed in the other hand of the man. The man didn't understood, so he merely shook his head and gestured the staff and book into the air again, though this time he pointed his nose are Louise. The Archer just nodded once without a second to lose and held back his stance he had taken during the altercation.

The mage let both hands fall back to his sides as he placed the book to the other, and coughed into his free fist loudly enough for Louise to hear. She had, and she turned, along with a young strapping woman. He turned back to Kai, and Kai looked back at the man. They both locked eyes before he couldn't take the nearly lingering violent rage hidden behind that scowling eyes of his.

"Professor Colbert?" Louise turned her body and walked over to the man, Kai Stepping back as he held the crossgun to his chest and now pointing it downwards to his left. Vella got up, smirked, and had her hands to her hips and she stood next to Kai. "Professor! Look! I managed the summoning!" The girl beamed brightly at the older man, and said man absolutely lost his hard features and returned the emotions ten fold easily. Kai internally grunted. That was easily faked. Too easily. He was hiding something.

Vella noticed Kai tense up with his shoulders hunched, but didn't do anything as she knew that he wouldn't do anything reckless. This was not a Fomorian enemy, so the probability of The Archer attacking was pretty slim.

She still had to prepare for the worst if he did attack though. She knew Kai would kill mercilessly if given the chance.

"I see, Louise." He affectionately patted Louise on the head. Though she would have reprimanded anyone else for doing that, save her for her family, Colbert acted as a guardian to Louise, always giving her the chances she always wanted to improve. Whether that be giving her more time out of his day than the other students or giving her special occasional lessons and reviews from what they learned the day before. To her, Colbert was simply like an uncle. On rare occasions, when Louise would be too tired to even comprehend anything, she'd whisper out "Uncle Colbert" before retiring to her room. Though she always had no recollection of it, he always found it sweet. "And who are these people?"

She stopped smiling and lost the color in her face. Of course she'd forget about names. Wait, but...

"I don't think they understand what we're saying." She looked over to Vella, who meekly waved to the now flustered girl. She gave back a small two-fingered wave in return. "They were speaking in a tongue I'm not familiar with."

"I see." Colbert nodded to Vella, and gave a stern look to Kai; The Archer merely nodded once. "Perhaps we should remedy the problem, no? The Familiar summoning should have automagically applied the effect to understand one's master, but..." He scratched his chin before continuing. "They aren't familiars as of yet, are they not?"

Automagically? What? "Er, no sir. I just summoned them and you came along." He gave a 'ahh' before bringing his staff to Louise to hold.

"Please, hold this." She did as asked and saw Colbert produce a wand from his sleeves. Taking only one step to the two figures, he held up his wand for them to see-Vella had the audacity to yawn and stretch her arms and look away while Kai lowered his head and covered his eyes. Sighing, Colbert gestured to his wand, then to his mouth, than to the wand again. Vella smirked then nodded her head while her friend didn't seem to care enough to move.

If Colbert had blinked, he'd have missed the sudden hand of the woman's instantly grasping the hilt of a sword attached to her back. For now, acting oblivious seemed to be ideal; he didn't want to go into a battle with an unidentified warrior from elsewhere. But, he wasn't called Flame Snake for nothing. He'd hold his own as long as Louise wasn't caught in the crossfire.

Casting the spell, he waved his wand to and fro while speaking the required words for the incantation. And as soon as he finished, the hand grasping the hilt was back at the woman's side. "Can you understand me now?"

"Perfectly." Vella had a sly smile on her face as she reached over with her hand. Colbert knowing what this meant, took it and shook. "Would have been a little problem if we would be speaking different languages. I'm surprised a mage as yourself knows something of that caliber."

Vella spun around on her heels, meeting Kai's eye for only a split second as she narrowed her eyes. The Archer merely lowered his head lower in a half nod.

Louise frowned as she watched her teacher blush and sputter words at the compliment. "It's a very basic spell, I assure you."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Still, I have to thank you on behalf of me and Mr. Broody of there." She thumbed behind her shoulder to Kai. Kai deepened his ever present scowl before turning away childishly. "He's not much of a talker. Pretty anti-social, if you know what I mean." A wink, and a hand covered the left side of her lips.

_Pop._ "Bark!" _Poof._ "Roff!"

"Oh hey. Red and Snowie." The swordswoman placed an armored finger to her chin in mild confusion.

XxXxX

Louise, easily forgetting about the simplest of things, was on her knees as she searched the short green grass of the field trying to find her wand.

Her mind wandered to many things, but most of them pointed to the red-headed woman now known as...she still didn't ask nor knew of the name. But she did catch the scary one's; Kai.

Kai the Archer.

Remembering his dark appearance as a demon spawn-like figure, the Pinkette shivered as she remembered the cold glowing eyes of the demonic inhuman rows and lines of teeth that easily covered half his face. But to turn back into a human, even if a very scary one with the ability to make Colbert-a Square Class Fire Mage-get on edge, felt so wrong. It was like a feeling never described in history. Those eyes were so cold, and the wisps of dark energy that encircled his body? What was that? It literally was killing the grass where he stood! That's not normal at all, no. It can't have been normal. No more normal than having a face-to-face conversation with Brimir.

Louise would rather had a life changing experience with the Founder than have-

She found her wand while dazed and out of reality. Huh, that was easy. Pocking the stick, she made her way to the group of adults and followed the lead of Professor Colbert as they made their way to the tower.

Wait a minute...

...Wandless magic. That's what she just did. She threw it and...

Uh oh.

* * *

"There is no known spell that can translate languages, is there." Vella walked closely to Kai, a hand on his shoulders as she brushed her lips on the cloth of his hood. He merely shuffled his shoulders to get her to back off. Ignoring his attempt to lose how close the woman was to his proximity, she continued. "This isn't normal Kai, and I know you're thinking the same." The hushed tone she'd adopted wasn't nearly as quiet enough as Colbert had turned his head to the side and frowned. Louise, a little behind Colbert himself, looked oblivious as she walked little steps towards the professor's classroom. "Look, even," This time, the tug on his shoulder stopped him from getting another step. "even Brynn never thought this was possible at all. Remember Glas? Even when he summoned-" He started to walk again, agitating the swordswoman. "when he summoned him. Brynn may have been younger, but he sure as hell did try to talk to him."

"Avatar of Destruction." In one of his very rare moments, he spoke. She blinked stupidly.

"Yeah, him. But as I was saying~!" Again with that soul sucking sultry tone of hers, she continued once more. "After he summoned Glass, he tried to communicate with it. Brynn never got to because Glas had already gone into rage and was destroying everything in site." Another push with his shoulder, and another hooked arm to his limb. "Evie had to extract that information from Brynn with some crystals. Given at how much those damned things cost, this had to be big." Vella pulled once more, The Archer surprised her by stopping and doing a full body turn to look down at the face of his ally. She mirrored his scowl. "There is no spell that can let one person communicate to the other unless you are of the same species, or you know the language yourself. Or the alternative: Magic. Magic that isn't known to the smartest mind in the world that dabbles in the magical arts? I think not!"

Again, not very quiet on her part. This time, Colbert had stopped and looked at the both of them while Louise curiously watched the commotion. She didn't seem to want to get into what they were talking about as Snowie and Red were side to side of her. She'd taken a liking to the little furballs, and kept herself from potentially losing the small hammer wielding critters. Snowie, as she understood was Kai's familiar-err, pet or whatever-and as true to the name, is a white little wolf pup with a hammer. Red's, just like the other, is crimson and holding a hammer just on its shoulder. Both had some serious muscles to hold those things. That, or the comical way they seem to drag them around made it look heavy.

Colbert, ever the patient one, sighed as Vella had practically shouted into the ear of the poor man she was haggling. "We are here. Please come in."

And without a second to waste, the little Gnoll Jr's made it in without the others as Red had tripped and picked himself back up with a small yelp. Louise fawned, but shut out the emotions from overflowing as she soon went after the small pets. Vella let go of Kai, walked in with her eyes locked with Colbert, blew him a kiss and wizzed right in. Colbert, lost in his own world thanks to a certain red head, barely had the time before he side stepped from the doorway as Kai had silently stalked into the classroom with little to no sound.

Shaking his head, Colbert looked around the hallway before shooing the other students from their staring and closed the door behind him.

From the hallway down, Kirche eyed the mysterious group of people before her footsteps could be heard getting further away along with her salamander with a smaller short and blue haired girl with her face in a book.

With The Archer leaning on the nearest wall next to the door with his arms crossed, Vella strode onto the floor before taking a small gander at her surroundings. "Interesting classroom you have here, Professor."

"Well yes, I provide the best for my students, and new concepts to magic and technology." He proudly stated. Louise looked from right to left and saw what he meant. Various glass tubes and magi tools were around that she knew of, but the small little gears and trinkets didn't look at all like the things she worked with.

Vella placed both her hands on his desk and she looked around the table, picking things up and inspecting them. Though the teacher didn't mind thanks to the woman bending over his desk, he did however mind that she didn't place them back where they originally belonged. "The first thing I want to ask for is a map. Any kind of map, whether that be of this country, continent or of the world; though I'd like the latter please."

Breaking his perverted stare, he realized that Vella was using her seduction skills to get what she needed. "And where do you come off demanding such things?"

"You're a smart man. And men like you lust for one thing."

_Here's hoping you'd give it to me _thought Colbert internally.

"Information."

_Darn._ "Of?"

"Touch the fabric of my sleeve." He blinked, but did so as asked. "Now pinch it." He did.

"Very soft." He whispered. She rolled her eyes and she swore Kai did the same. She sent a look his way but he had already looked at something else on the wall.

"Pinch it harder." And so he did. And his eyes widened. "I see that you figured it out."

"The material...it hardened." He nearly gasped, and Louise quickly joined the two, trying to look at what was going on. Red and Snowie followed the shorter woman with Red pushing Snowie while the two battled for the side to stand next to Louise. "This is...some sort of magic?"

She smiled deviously. "Enchanted armor." Armor made from the pieces of a few gods, to be precise.

He shook his head finding it profound, but the thought still seemed plausible. "How? We never gone to such lengths like this before. We could only have magical properties on certain accessories and pieces of cloth. Never something that hardens to the point of steel. Especially to this magnitude."

Louise meekly just looked between the two, Vella held the other arm to her and the little girl tried also. She gasped but was promptly ignored in favor of hearing Colbert. "Why are you two ignoring me? I happened to have summoned you both, and you guys are more interesting in...this!"

"Shh. Anyway. A map, and I'll explain in due time, professor."

XxXxX

Kai closed his eyes in frustration as Vella sighed loudly for the nth time in the last hour. They'd been looking through the pieces of paper called a map and had searched through different books of the world they were in.

Not their world.

Because one glanced had already proven that easily. No known places near Colhen or Rocheste even traversed that far into the wild.

Gallian, Romalia, Germania, Tristain. That's not in their maps. That's not names they knew of. And the biggest of all. Not one of them showed a single sign of the Fomorians nor the plague that spread and killed the wildlife. No shrine of the Goddess, no brynn measurements-Reilly's lazy idea of naming magical things after his serious and quiet student Brynn- that told them how magical each place was and no Royal Army or Mercenary, well, anything of them.

Kai and Vella, mostly Vella, had taken seats near the desk of Colbert's to look through their libraries and anything pertaining information of land mass with the history of the world.

"Dammit it all!" The swordswoman shouted and threw her hands into the air like a child before pouting with her arms crossed. "Nothing in here makes sense. Where's the Fomorian War? Where are the other cities and villages and settlements? Where is our home?"

Kai had to agree and be just as agitated as his friend was. Though not showing it, it always came out to be someone or something badly hurt when things got complicated for him. But it didn't seem like it was going to be possible for The Archer to hunt for some game. Not here. There are no monsters to kill. No damned gods to slay and most of all, no cemetery to-

He easily crushed the map in his gloved hands as he pulled the hood down to show his features. Vella immediately grabbed his hand and shook it.

Colbert had been nice enough to let them look at the tombs and books and maps and whatnot, and she didn't want her almost-all-the-time angry friend to ruin any of it thanks to his easily ticked off issues, but she couldn't stop a _psychotic_ killer from getting out of hand. She whispered slowly to get his attention. "What's wrong?"

He responded by grounding his teeth while an intense glare stared at the table. "Village of..."

Again, she had to tighten the grip on his hand. "Village? What village?"

"Of.." He tensed up, and Vella just knew that she'd have to beat down the man if he so much as touched his weapon. "Of..." Relaxing, he only hunched over and made the wood splinter from the pressure he applied to the woodwork.

Oh, guess she didn't have to. "What? What is it? And don't break the table Kai."

He stayed quiet this time, but his rage intensified tenfold as he picked up his hood with a little too much force and covered his face while stomping off out of the door. No doubt he was going to change the landscape with a few good blows from his bow and crossgun. She sighed and folded her hands over her chest as she leaned back in the chair.

Lucky for Louise and Colbert, they didn't see the hooded man in all his glory of being a walking time bomb. Too angry for the kid, would have scared Louise badly. Colbert might have reacted and possibly tried to restrain him if he felt that Louise could be in danger. Or maybe because his belongings were being ripped apart. They both had gone up to see the Headmaster, or something. Talk about the appearance of Kai and herself no doubt. Colbert had mentioned that he'd sort it out and get them the information while Louise' summoning would be reviewed.

Vella had volunteered her pet familiar to Louise as long as she fed and took care of Red. Louise had automatically agreed on a whim and said she'd make it up to the swordswoman.

Vella doubted that very much.

At any rate, once Louise had contracted Red-not telling Vella that it would be a permanent deal thing going on (Dammit, Red is going to have a new home here now)-and Vella and Kai had been left alone to look over the stuff sprawled across the table. So far, nothing good.

She'd have to work it out in her head along with Kai to figure out this problem.

Two figures walked into the door. A very happy Louise and a very pleased Colbert looked at the small indent on the table, the lazily leaning Vella on the chair, the ripped map and the place where a now missing Kai had been.

At least the professor seemed to kinda figure out what happened.

"I take it that things has become complicated?"

"Kai might kill someone, yeah."

"Shouldn't someone stop him?" Butted in a panic stricken faced Louise.

"I'll do it, I guess." She responded back with a wave of her hand.

"...He isn't going to kill someone, right?" Colbert interjected.

"Hm." She brought her now unarmored hand to her chin in thought. "Well, he did nearly kill that one trainee when the kid spat on his face."

"What?"

"Mercenary Outpost, a year ago. Some hotshot wannabe wanted to showoff to some of the ladies, me included, that he could take on a high ranking soldier."

She smiled lightly and stretched her hands above her head. "Let's just say that the kid turned out to be a guard instead. That's what happens when an arrow has pierced your knee. Anyway," Vella yawned lightly and rubbed her left shoulder relieving the stress building up. "What's the news?"

* * *

**A/N: Not Beta'd**

**For the purpose of this story, I have changed canon on both sides. To remedy this, I have not followed the elements of Keaghan in Vindictus and his ultimate betrayal. That means no major characters deaths - Ellis was a sad case, but let's face it, he's an idiot to have gone alone.**

**Louise now has a Gnoll Chieftain Familiar. It's awesome. Look up Vindictus Gnoll Chieftain Jr on YouTube to see what it looks like.**

**For people wandering what Vella looks like, it's her default appearance with the Butterfly Armor set. Kai's is his concept art with the Veteran Archer Armor, but the pants and down is Nighthawk Pants and Nighthawk Boots.**

**Review please! That gives me motivation to write more.**

**Oh and, if you're following me for CtGP, I'm sorry to say but I won't start until the old submitted OCs are all in. Less than half have PMed me, and that's isn't a lot. I'll start once they reply, or I'll just give the slots to other people who want in. Anyway, later.**


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